Scripps scientist seeks soot solution for India

In this Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011 photo, India Gate, the war memorial, is seen through haze in New Delhi, India. A decade ago, plans for a metro and clean-fuel buses were hailed as New Delhi's answer to pollution. But air in the Indian capital is as dirty as ever - partly because its continued development has brought skyrocketing use of cars. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
— AP

In this Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011 photo, India Gate, the war memorial, is seen through haze in New Delhi, India. A decade ago, plans for a metro and clean-fuel buses were hailed as New Delhi's answer to pollution. But air in the Indian capital is as dirty as ever - partly because its continued development has brought skyrocketing use of cars. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
/ AP

In the late 1990’s Scripps professor Veerabhadran Ramanathan led an international team of researchers that identified the brown cloud of soot wafting from India, and warned of its contribution to climate change.

This year he released a report showing that diesel emissions reductions aimed at cutting pollution deaths in California have the serendipitous effect of curbing climate change.

Now Ramanathan, an Indian-born researcher for Scripps Institution of Oceanography, is bringing his expertise home.

Last week he joined California Gov. Jerry Brown, Indian leaders and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Chairman R. K. Pachauri for a three-day workshop to launch the India-California Air-Pollution Mitigation Program.

Soot, or black carbon, is the product of diesel exhaust. Worldwide, 3.5 million people die each year from illnesses caused by inhalation of the fine particles, according to a statement from Scripps.

“In the late 1940’s Los Angeles had pollution similar to what we had in Beijing or Delhi,” Ramanathan said.

That led to the formation of the California Air Resources Board in 1967, and to new fuel formulations and filters that trimmed black carbon emissions in California by 90 percent despite a four-fold increase in diesel use, he said.

“That came not by the government telling all us not to drive,” Ramanathan said. “It was a technological solution.”

In a study for the air board, Ramanathan reported this year that diesel controls not only improve public health, but may also slow climate change by curbing the equivalent of 21 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. That’s about the same as taking more than 4 million vehicles off the road every year, the report concluded.

Ramanathan and his colleagues hope to introduce similar solutions to India, a nation of 1.2 billion in which vehicle use is rising. He hopes the Indian government will choose a state where it can roll out a pilot project for diesel emission controls.

The project received a $488,000 seed grant from the World Bank, and will convene a policy conclave in India, which they hope Gov. Brown will attend as well.

Ibrahim Rehman, director for social transformation for The Energy Resources Institute in Delhi India, said the time is right for the project, because the country is seeking clean air solutions.

“There are plans to introduce cleaner fuels, reduce the sulfur content in fuels,” he said. “So it is an opportune moment to look at other countries as well, regions that have successfully reduced air pollution.”